Taximania
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2014
- Messages
- 34
- Reaction score
- 8
Hello to everyone.
First post on here so :
Lurked the board for quite a while and absorbed like a sponge as much information as humanly possible.
Quick background on my newbie journey down the brewmaster alley.
First brew was a milestones lions pride.
Although not primarily an ale drinker this was very good indeed.
In fact I was amazed at the quality achievable through a home brew kit.
Made in a king keg top tap and brewed to instruction with no mods.
I added 80 gm to the barrel and this carbonated the brew sufficient for an ale.
My next brews were all lagers as that is my tipple of choice.
Cracked on with the Wilko kits as they are apparently knocked out by the Muntons stable and so in the words of the famous actor...
What could possibly go wrong...
The kits brewed up were fantastic value at £7.50 a each so a big happy days to that.
Added a kilo of enhancer to the lager batches and some halertau hops for a very cheap pint indeed.
Good value stores that enabled me to also grab a cheeky Woodfords wherry for under fifteen pounds.
Brews were the Mexican cervasa the golden lager and the Coopers European
So that leads me on to the questions I could not find the answers to regarding priming.
On the wilko instructions they said add 80 gm to the cervasa and golden lager.
The first kit I did was the cervasa and duly batch primed a smidgens over the 80g as they recommended at 100gm of dextrose.
Added this to boiled water emptied into vessel and transferred batch on top and gently stirred a few times ensuring no air invasion.
Then siphoned bottled and stored for 3 weeks at about 20- 21 c
After first week like any nosy mortal being I cracked one open.
Only slightly carbonated.:wha:
Did this for the next two weeks and again only slightly carbed up.
The other two lagers were batch primed at 160g and are just perfect.
All were brewed to 23l and instructions duly followed.
So why are Wilko or Muntons advocating a small prime rate of only 80 dextrose.
These chaps create these kits in laboratory conditions to ensure Joe Soap gets a pleasant result and comes galloping back for more.
Now the newbie brewer being an impatient character and itching to get supping asap wants pleasant beer reasonably carbed in around 4 or 5 weeks as promised(European coopers excluded) so again why do they err on a low side recommendation.
I have seen the posts on here of peeps mentioning they followed the prime rate instructions off the can and were disappointed with the resultant carbonation.
So accepting that all beers and styles have there own requirements what are the members general consensus for carbonation rates on lager beers.
For the batch prime is it to be 80g as recommended by the makers or 120 160 or even 200g plus for a lively pint.
Surely the manufacture can not be advocating a very mild fizz for their lagers.
Btw ; I tried gently inverting bottles to mix up the yeast a little to try to get them excited and slightly increased temp range for a few days to 24 c
But to no avail on the cervasa.
I just think maybe way too little dextrose . thoughts ?
A quickie if I may on chill haze.
If i leave the bottles in the fridge at around 5c for more than a few weeks is it then a certainty that the haze will dissipate .
Understand its only cosmetic but a nice clear pint of amber nectar on a sunny day is a site to behold.
Great board and a absolute mine of information for this great hobby.
Adios and thanks .
Taxi;
First post on here so :
Lurked the board for quite a while and absorbed like a sponge as much information as humanly possible.
Quick background on my newbie journey down the brewmaster alley.
First brew was a milestones lions pride.
Although not primarily an ale drinker this was very good indeed.
In fact I was amazed at the quality achievable through a home brew kit.
Made in a king keg top tap and brewed to instruction with no mods.
I added 80 gm to the barrel and this carbonated the brew sufficient for an ale.
My next brews were all lagers as that is my tipple of choice.
Cracked on with the Wilko kits as they are apparently knocked out by the Muntons stable and so in the words of the famous actor...
What could possibly go wrong...
The kits brewed up were fantastic value at £7.50 a each so a big happy days to that.
Added a kilo of enhancer to the lager batches and some halertau hops for a very cheap pint indeed.
Good value stores that enabled me to also grab a cheeky Woodfords wherry for under fifteen pounds.
Brews were the Mexican cervasa the golden lager and the Coopers European
So that leads me on to the questions I could not find the answers to regarding priming.
On the wilko instructions they said add 80 gm to the cervasa and golden lager.
The first kit I did was the cervasa and duly batch primed a smidgens over the 80g as they recommended at 100gm of dextrose.
Added this to boiled water emptied into vessel and transferred batch on top and gently stirred a few times ensuring no air invasion.
Then siphoned bottled and stored for 3 weeks at about 20- 21 c
After first week like any nosy mortal being I cracked one open.
Only slightly carbonated.:wha:
Did this for the next two weeks and again only slightly carbed up.
The other two lagers were batch primed at 160g and are just perfect.
All were brewed to 23l and instructions duly followed.
So why are Wilko or Muntons advocating a small prime rate of only 80 dextrose.
These chaps create these kits in laboratory conditions to ensure Joe Soap gets a pleasant result and comes galloping back for more.
Now the newbie brewer being an impatient character and itching to get supping asap wants pleasant beer reasonably carbed in around 4 or 5 weeks as promised(European coopers excluded) so again why do they err on a low side recommendation.
I have seen the posts on here of peeps mentioning they followed the prime rate instructions off the can and were disappointed with the resultant carbonation.
So accepting that all beers and styles have there own requirements what are the members general consensus for carbonation rates on lager beers.
For the batch prime is it to be 80g as recommended by the makers or 120 160 or even 200g plus for a lively pint.
Surely the manufacture can not be advocating a very mild fizz for their lagers.
Btw ; I tried gently inverting bottles to mix up the yeast a little to try to get them excited and slightly increased temp range for a few days to 24 c
But to no avail on the cervasa.
I just think maybe way too little dextrose . thoughts ?
A quickie if I may on chill haze.
If i leave the bottles in the fridge at around 5c for more than a few weeks is it then a certainty that the haze will dissipate .
Understand its only cosmetic but a nice clear pint of amber nectar on a sunny day is a site to behold.
Great board and a absolute mine of information for this great hobby.
Adios and thanks .
Taxi;
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